Back in 2011, A female professor reviewed over 6,000 children's books published from 1900-2000, and found a massive gender imbalance. Many more books had male characters than female ones. By 1990 this discrepancy was shrinking, but in the case of animal protagonists the gap was still huge. If you're an author writing about animals stars, you are still far more likely to make that animal male. In this way, children are inadvertently encouraged to accept the invisibility/importance of women and a patriarchal gender system is reinforced. It's worth thinking about when we write. Hmm.. I'm guiltily remembering my male spider, in my last book.
More importantly though, it's not just those who star in books that matter but how females are represented when they do appear. Here, I can heave a huge sigh of relief. There's lots of great modern literature in which the Princesses rescue themselves, thank you very much (or even rescue the hapless Prince). There are books in which Dad is the homemaker, and can be found ironing, cooking and up to all sorts of domestic duties. Search them out people!
Kat is giving us a helping hand by reviewing children's books that tell us stories of great women. Make sure you check out her blogs.
It's apposite to talk about this today, as (just in case you've missed all the media coverage,) it's been a hundred years since women obtained the right to vote in Britain (6.2.1918). And okay, it wasn't all of them but it was getting there...
A lot has changed since then. I've been lucky enough to have been born in a country and an era when I can have as many kids as I want, and have whatever career I want. But there is still a long way to go to achieve true equality. All of us have a responsibility to help every human being have the same rights as any other. As writers, we are in a perfect position to address imbalance, and as readers we can ensure we think carefully about what inadvertent messages our bookshelves might convey to our children.
And for all those out there who have a violent hatred of 'social justice warriors' (you know who you are) I'm not suggesting you throw away all the brilliant literature you may have that isn't PC in 2018. Censoring literature that was of its time and culture will only draw us closer to newspeak. I'm simply suggesting you make sure that isn't the only thing your children are exposed to.
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